The present invention relates to a slicing center adapted to produce slices from pieces to be sliced.
The production of slices from ingots is usually carried out with a series of successive steps grouping in an erratic manner a certain number of machines or devices that are more or less various, generally made to carry out a precise function, but with no considered relationship with the preceding or subsequent operations. The integration is generally carried out by the user with more or less difficulty or success and with more or less automation.
During cutting thin slices from material in the form of ingots, a certain number of operations must be carried out and the slices obtained must be processed so as to permit treating them without restriction according to the needs of the user. The difficulty of integrating the operations depends on the methods used for cutting the slices.
Beginning with the piece to be sliced, generally in the form of an ingot, the following operations must be carried out. The ingots are fixed on a support in a position which must be quite precise, if they are a monocrystal in which the orientation of the crystalline structure plays a role. In this case, a determination of the orientation must be made by x-rays for example and positioning is necessary. Once the piece to be sliced is positioned and fixed on its support, the latter is mounted on the slicing device which can be a diamond blade saw or a wire saw or any other means permitting slicing the material either simultaneously or piece by piece. There then follows an operation of rough cleaning and a processing of the obtained slices. This processing generally is carried out in packaging which maintains each slice separate from the following to avoid any contact between them which could give rise to chipping. This type of packaging is called a tray and is used for transporting the slices for subsequent operations. Each of the above operations requires first means to be carried out. All the operations comprised between the ingot and the processed slices take place now in an independent manner with the first means and with a large manual component, with corresponding labor, and hence a high cost.
The object of the present invention consists in overcoming these drawbacks, and it is characterized to this end by the fact that the slicing center comprises, united in a same assembly, first means to carry out the necessary operations for the production of the processed slices for ultimate use from pieces to be sliced and by the fact that these operations are controlled and interconnected by second means so as to form subgroups and by the fact that these subgroups are themselves connected together by third means thereby forming a transfer chain in which all the operations and all the means are compatible and interconnected to comprise the slicing center.
Thanks to these characteristics, the slices can be produced in an automated manner with very high output, with increased reliability and safety, with uniform and excellent quantity and at a lower cost.
The integration into subgroups by the second means and then the complete integration, by third means, of the individual operations of protection constituted by the first means, can be carried out so as to render the assembly semiautomatic, hence to replace a series of well separated steps, difficult to coordinate for the user, by a single operation which consists in putting back the pieces to be sliced or the ingots and to receive in return the processed slices in a preselected packaging. It is therefore a matter of supplying to the user an automatic or semiautomatic slicing center according to an overall concept for the production of slices.
The practice of the overall concept remedies the drawbacks of multiple steps necessary at present for the production of slices from the ingot to the processed slice by supplying an overall concept integrating all of the necessary operations and hence the first means. The user no longer need make each operation compatible with the following one, because this is done by the second and/or third means.
To carry out the global concept principle, a certain number of operations should be grouped, hence by the first means, in subgroups each of which comprises, by means of the second means, a portion of the chain, then to connect them to each other by third means so as to give to the assembly the character of a transfer chain and thereby to satisfy the principle of a global concept of a slicing center.
The subgroups can be in series in the following manner:
1) unit for securement of the piece to be sliced or of the ingot and orientation in position if necessary,
2) slicing unit constituted by one or several slicing devices,
3) processing unit constituted by one or several processing devices,
4) subsequent operations as chosen by the user.
The securement of the ingot or of the piece to be sliced, as well as its spatial orientation with possible inspection of the crystal by X-ray or by optical methods, can be carried out by second means in the form of a computer controlled robot and coordinating the operations of orientation and of securement in position, as well as the measuring of the ingots. The first means being in this case constituted among other things by the securement stations, the R-X measurement station, if desired a cleaning station, this list not being exhaustive.
The emplacement in the slicing unit of the pieces to be sliced can also be carried out by second means in the form of a manipulating robot again controlled by computer and always keeping the outline of the piece to be sliced. Once sliced, the piece to be sliced can be taken back by the same manipulator robot to be transferred to the processing unit. This operation is in general necessary only when the slicing in a group, by a wire saw or multiple blades, for example. In the case of piece-by-piece slicing, the slices will be taken back directly after each other from the slicing unit to be processed in the processing unit. The first means of the slicing unit can be constituted by an assembly of one or several abrasive slicing devices, free or fixed, such as wire saws, diamond blade saws or multiblades.
The processing unit will receive the slices either in the form of pieces sawed in slices, but always attached together generally by a cemented heel, or else in the form of separate slices but having also an adhesive heel. The processing unit should then distribute the slices in containers called trays and maintain these latter separated from each other. The processing unit can also have a role in cleaning the slices or removing the heel, but may also insert other operations such as chamfering or marking or again inspection operations and rejection operations each of which comprises one of the first means, the second means being adapted to be constituted by conveyor belts interconnecting the various first means.
Once out of the processing unit, the reattachment and other operations are no longer a matter of choice for the user because these operations are in general well known and rely practically all on slices processed and held in trays.
To connect the different subgroups and to make a unit of them, it is possible, but not always absolutely necessary, to create intermediate storages which constitute in part the third means. Thus the following intermediate storages can be envisioned:
1) input storage which receives the ingots ready to be sliced,
2) first intermediate storage after mounting and if desired orientation and before slicing,
3) second intermediate storage after the slicing unit and before the processing unit,
4) storage of the output after the processing unit and before the subsequent operations defined by the user.
The passage between the different subgroups constituting the first and second means through intermediate storages can be carried out by a robot independent and separate from the second means. This independent robot thus constitutes with the intermediate storages, the third means. However, and in most cases, the second means are sufficient to ensure the transfer and operations and functions of the third means and hence can be carried out entirely or only partially by the second means or integrated with the latter.
Thus, the invention permits the slicing unit according to the global slicing concept, to become a slicing center and thereby to avoid the multiple steps which require great labor and difficulties of keeping the shape of each piece to be sliced. The slicing center is hence constituted by first means to carry out the necessary operations, second means permitting controlling a series of operations among themselves and thus constituting a subgroup of operations, and third means interconnecting the subgroups to produce a single transfer chain called a slicing center.